Debut alert, on a Saturday! Welcome, Ms. Ajayi, to the NYT. And it's a fun semi-themed Saturday as well.
The two grid-spanning entries are well-known novels written in response to classics. The first, WIDESARGASSOSEA, imagines Mr. Rochester's "mad" wife as a Jamaican woman of mixed descent. Having read a New Yorker article about Jean Rhys, I know that she herself found herself caught between two words, having been raised on Dominica in the Caribbean, and then went to boarding school in England. Not a comfortable experience, to say the least.
The other novel is Chinua Achebe's acclaimed THINGSFALLAPART, which I didn't was a response to Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, probably because I've never read it. But it does not appear to be specifically drawn from the same characters like the other novel in this puzzle.
I'm not sure if 28A: Inconsistent (HITORMISS) and 42A: Unfailingly loyal (RIDEORDIE) are meant to be part of the theme, or are just symmetrically placed phrases using the word "or." Regardless, it's a nice symmetry.
Interestingly, the two answers I have the most problem with are also symmetrically placed, and I only have problems with them because they are words that are not used in any common way. The first is 4D: Classical orator (RHETOR), which was certainly gettable from context and knowledge of the term "rhetorical." The second is 45D: Key piece of an overlock sewing machine (LOOPER).
The clue for 32A: "Ti ____" (bit of Romance language romance language) (AMO) is hilariously overexplained. I also enjoyed 36A: Open many tabs, maybe (BARTEND) - works in two ways!
With UNDERWORLD, ILLUMINATI, and TWOSOMES, it's a fun grid.
Finished in a very rapid 5:24.
Tomorrow, Horace takes back over again, I believe. Welcome back to the States!
- Colum
I do indeed, and thanks! That review will be coming right up. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, I thought I was rapid at what I now know to be a glacial 12:53. I whipped right through this one. Impressive that this is a debut puzzle on a Saturday, of all days. Very nice flow to it, great cluing and smooth fill. I don't know any of the real people in the grid (I know ISSA from other crosswords), but I'm quite familiar with ELMER.
ReplyDeleteWow yes, I crushed it in 6:21, so hats off to you Mr. Amory!! Is it just me, by the way, but have the last few Saturdays been extra gentle?
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